The Almost Angel
by momentomori611
Summary: Zoe Pinez is a mutant created by the scientists of the US Army. She ran, and stayed hidden, until they found her. Will Zoe finally stand her ground, or run like she has her whole life? R&R, Please review!
1. Prologue

Prologue

My earliest memory is of holding a gun. I was 8 then,now I'm 15,in highschool and still on the run. At age 9 I learned how to fire a gun and fly. I can drive a humvee,helicopter,and plane. That,I learned at from age 10-12.I escaped when I was 12,thanks to those skills. You can shoot me,and I probably won't die. It only depends where you shoot me,I'd probably just fly away like I usually do. I'm finished with running,it's time to fight. To take a stand.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

**All the characters in this sory are MINE. If you choose to be and idiot and take my idea,I WILL hunt you down and follow you into a dark alley. Believe me,you do not want to be in a dark alley with me, and I'm angry with you. Take my warnings people **

The fly to school was normal: flocks of geese,wind in my suburn hair,and the fresh air all around me. I really loved it up here. I sometimes really hated that scientist for turning me into this monster,but then other times I loved it. I do have to admit my best friend doesn't know about my mutation. I sorta fell bad about it,but not really. You could say I have no heart. I've killed countless people. But that was 4 years ago,I haven't been to Iraq since. Hopefully people understand my reason to run. Nobody,I mean NOBODY should have to live like I did at such a young age. Your just lucky it wasn't you out there.

My name? It's Captain Zoe Pinez. Yeah,like in the military.I'm only 15 and belong to the belong to the military…You probably think that is outrageous,don't you? Well think again,I have no parents. I was donated to the military by my crackhead mother. She's probably dead from an overdose. I have to live by myself in a cabin in the middle of the woods. Oh yeah,forgot to mention.I have wings and can turn into any animal I want.

I landed in the shrubs outside the school and put my wings inside of my shirt. On the way to my locker I said hi to Zach,my only best friend. When I saw my schedule at the beginning of the year,I was physiced to see Zach in all of my classes.

I'm only friends with Zach. We go back to the fifth grade. Now we are sophomores in highschool. I'm lucky to have a friend like him; someone that I can trust. Like if I were to tell him my secret,I know he would tell not a soul. I was actually thinking about telling and showing him what I can do later today. Hopefully if I do,he'll take it better than Logan did…I should've know not to tell him. I was only 12,so young. Now I'm 15 more mature. I think I'm ready. Logan I started to grow apart and he started calling me some things and threatened to tell people abot my secret. I had to kill him.

FINALLY! Math was over. Social Studies,Language and Science blew past. Good thing Zach was my partner in science, I would have blew up something without him. The bell rang and everyone got up and walked out the door. I usually don't eat,just remember,I'm part lioness too.

Pretty soon my other class was over and time for gym;my last class. I was hoping for one of those classes that seemed like it only took a week. I was wrong,it was almost over. I pulled Zach over to the side and asked, "Hey Zach,can I uh talk to you after school?"

"yeah sure. May I ask why?"he was such a gentlemen.

"I need to talk to you about our science project."I thought up quickly. Just then the bell rang.

"oh,I just need to talk to you about our science project."I answered.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Right as that bell rang I was out of there. I attempted to look normal on the way to my locker,but I'm pretty sure I failed. Once I got to my locker I opened it nd grabbed my books. Good,no one was in the hallway,I took out my uniform and looked at it. It's been so long,I thought. I almost longed to go back and fight. But barely,most of me wanted to stay here in West Virginia."Crap,Zach's waiting for me!" I yelled. I threw my uniform,unfolded,back in my locker and went running towards the doors.

I busted out the doors and sure enough there was Zach leaning against the handrail."sup."I was breathing heavily now.

"nothing. Okay Zoe,I know you. You don't want to talk about Science. What's up?"

"I have to talk to you about something important."

"What?"

"You have to follow me to the back of the school."I confessed.

"oh,okay let's go."

I took him to blank spot in the cameras and backed up

"What do you want to talk to me abo-oh my god…"he gasped

I had unfurled all 15 feet of my pure black wings. I knew he thought they were beautiful. When he said 'oh my god' that pretty much sealed the deal. If he thought that the wings were a shocker,he was in for a heart-attack when I phased. I gave him 5 to recover and then I asked,"give me an animal. Just try not to give me some marine animal."

"A Leopard." He gave me.

I stepped back about 3 feet and phased. It felt good to phase and shake out my coat. After a yawn I looked up at him. Why didn't you tell me before? Did you not trust me? Believe me Zoe,I'll guard this with everything I have. I'll tell no one." He gushed out.

"Zach,"-he looked quite surprised to see that I can talk while in animal form-"It's not that I didn't trust you,I just I didn't feel that the time was right." I admitted.

" there anything else I need to know?"he asked

"actually yes. I belong to the military. They made me and Iv'e been running from them for quite awhile."

"Dude, how is that possible?"

"My mother gave me to them for drug money. While I was still in the womb,I was injected with DNA of every animal alive. Whrn I was given bird DNA,To much was in the syringe. Imagine, I could have a beak,or talons! Instead I was weirdly blessed with these babies."I was out of breath now.

"Like how do you live?" man he was full of questions.

"Okay,I'll explain.I was trained at 8 years old. I was put into combat at a very young age. I got sick of being around men all the time so during a recon mission I just flew off. I took refuge here and just started walking down Maple Street. A girl,Jennifer,like me found me and took me in. Don't bother askin bout her,she's dead. Dead because of me. The marines found me and stormed the cabin. A guy named colonial Lister shot her in the back of the head,right I front of me..They took me back and I left again and here I am. Haven't found me yet."I couldn't go on. It was to painful so I stopped.

"well how do you live?"

"Jennifer was ;she was filthy rich. I think I'm set for life." I smiled at him and winked,yet I was dead serious.

"How did she get the money?"

I was just getting ready to leave and unfolded my wings again.

"Sorry Zach,that's information is being withheld at the moment." And then I flew off.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

When flew back to my cabin I felt better. There was only one problem. When I landed something was different,I just couldn't put my finger on it. Oh well, I thought, I'm just gonna get my work done and go to sleep.

The next day was only Thursday. Ugh. The day was the exact same as always. Except the minor mishap in language. Well, I wouldn't really call it a mishap ,more of a major incident that caused a massive chain of events.

The assignment was to write a poem. I was actually almost done when a man walked in. My gaze flicked up to see a tall man with gray, short hair and dressed in camo standing in the doorway. My heart dropped and I kept 'working' on my poem. Colonial Lister. The man that has made my life hell, is coming to take me back. He was like an abusive father.

My heart was beating a mile a minute and I felt sick to my stomach. I couldn't escape. Everybody in my class was looking at the mysterious camouflaged man now talking to my teacher. Maybe he wouldn't recognize me If I kept my head down? No. That would make me stand out. Just keep working. I took a deep breath and kept working.

"Zoe would please come here?" asked Miss Lynne. _Snap!_ My pencil tip broke when she said my name. I got up and walked to the front of the class, all their eyes on me.

"This man would like to talk to you." My teacher looked a little flustered, but for all she knew, this man was my father. For the first time in years, I looked up and into the eyes of a monster.

"After you," he gestured to the door. I winced when I heard his voice, but I opened the door and stepped into the hallway anyway.

Instantly, two soldiers stepped out and put a pistol to my head. I heard the class gasp, but didn't dare to move.

"Lister's voice whispered in my ear, low enough for only me to hear, "Make it difficult and you're gone, Pinez. I don't want to make a scene arresting you, but if I have to…" his sentence was left hanging.

I said nothing and just stared down the hallway, planning. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him smile. The evil grin made my blood boil. It haunted my dreams. It made me freeze with fear. I snapped.

Just as I was taught, I spun around and knocked the gun out of the one soldier's hand. It spun across the floor and the other ran to grab it. I stuck my leg out and spun. He faceplanted into the hard tile and laid still. I jumped up and went punch the Colonial in the face. He grabbed my wrist and I went to roundhouse as a way to break free of his grasp and to hurt him.

With my wrist being held, I lost balance and fell. He then put his knee into my back and pulled my arm against my back to the point where I thought it was going to be dislocated. Slowly, the fight drained out of me and reality sunk in. I was captured. There was no being free. N my world, there was no free.

I heard someone rifling through their pockets and hand something to Lister. There was a click, and I felt strangely…weak. "Just a precaution," he grunted as he got off me.

Somebody threw a uniform at me and I was ordered to change.

The soldier waited outside the rest room and waited for me to come out. I changed and looked in the mirror. My eyes had changed to a dark, dark blue instead of their normal stormy grey. I gathered my long auburn hair and put it up into a big alligator clip. I walked out and back into the hallway to Lister. Some kids were passed out and others were standing opened mouthed and wide-eyed.

As soon as I walked out, cuffs were put on me.

Lister walked me out to a black, sleek sedan. But before that he stopped by the main office and handed a wad of money to the principle. He took the money happily and smiled.

As soon as I was shoved into the car, someone shoved a syringe into my neck. I never even got out a word before the world went black.

The next time I woke, I was in a dog crate, everything hurt, and surrounded by dogs. I can't believe they put me in a crate. For some reason my left shoulder blade and right lower back hurt. The first thing that came to mind was that I was man-handled while I was out. They wouldn't hurt me too bad, I need to be in tip top shape. I heard a door open and a soldier walked in to check on the dogs. He secured some crates to a wall and left. Maybe an hour later I heard a voice go on in the passenger part of the plane. "Hello, my brave soldiers. Welcome to Iraq."


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The same soldier came to let me out of my cage. As soon as I was out I stood up and stretched my wings. When they got to their full size my shoulder blade started to hurt again. I'd have to look at that later, I thought.

The soldier shoved me forward and I started walking to the front of the plane. The rest of the plane was emptied out before I got to the front. When I walked out onto the tarmac I was hit with a wall of heat. Wow, did that bring back painful memories. I was then put on a helicopter with a bunch of other marines to go to my base. They looked at me a whispered, just like high school.

I purposely grabbed a seat by the door. The helicopter was already in the air now and I was just sitting there staring out the door. I always have a seat by the door, just in case danger comes along I can up, up and away. "Yo, John. Look, they bringin' young kids now. A great shield," said a Marine across from me. I looked him long in the eyes and stood. "Whoa, what the hell are you doing?" I knew he was joking, but I didn't exactly like joking around. I smiled at him and dropped backwards out the door. As soon as the bottom of the helicopter passed over my head, I snapped out my wings. Immediately, I stopped falling and soared passed the door and over the helicopter. When I flew passed the door, I saw the one Marine hanging out the door trying to find me. I sighed and flew up, over the helicopter, passed the other doors and hung onto the metal bars on the bottom. I hoisted myself up into a sitting position and chilled.

The helicopter started losing altitude, so I took that as my cue to get back in the chopper. I effortlessly pulled myself back into the chopper and looked around at the faces. My wings folded back up against my back. A cool breeze brought goose bumps on my exposed back where I cut my uniform.

We landed and I was the first to jump out of the helicopter. Lister was standing not too far away with two guards. The walked up to me and each grabbed an arm. I could easily take them both. At the same time.

"Follow me, Pinez," he said when I reached him. I rolled my eyes. Not like I had much of a choice…

They dragged me past rows of barracks and tents. Finally, we stopped at a single-person tent at practically the edge of camp. My tent. It always has been. I looked at the top, yep. Still that same hole, I thought.

"Welcome home, Captain. You will not leave this tent unless told to. You're pretty much on lockdown until further notice. All meals will be delivered to you. If you are ever found not in this tent, your punishment will be severe. Are we clear?" I grunted in response. "Enjoy your stay," he finished with a smile and walked away.

The military policemen let go of me and I walked into the tent. I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't this. Everything that was there a few years ago was gone. The pretty blanket, the lights, the 'Mutant and Proud" sign. All gone. All the was left was a cot and footlocker. So bland…

I looked in my footlocker and say fresh everything. I grabbed a towel and shirt. Lister said something about keeping guards outside my tent? So what.

I walked out and said, "I'm going to the shower. Feel free to watch if you'd like." They both walked up behind me and grabbed an arm and escorted me to the showers.

They let me go in by myself and waited outside the door. Of course everyone had to leave first; nobody could be in there with me. I undressed and stepped into the warm spray. Hot water will be gift from god instead of the cold stream water.

After I was done I stepped out and grabbed my towel. Out of the corner of my eye I saw something black on my shoulder. I whipped around and felt my face grow red at what I saw. There was a pair of wings on my left shoulder blade and a Marine core emblem on the left lower side of my back. Under the Marine core emblem was a sequence of numbers. A serial code.

I got dressed in the uniform tan tee and camo pants and walked out. The cool night air felt good on my skin. The dark sky was full of stars and I watched them as the military policemen took me back to my tent. I got in my cot and closed my eyes, attempting to find sleep.

I woke that night to gunfire. It sounded far off, but it's been forever since I was last here. I silently jumped out of bed and padded to the front of my tent. I stood completely still. The soldiers were still awake at what I guessed was 2-3 in the morning. I stood back and smiled in the darkness as a plan formed in my head.

I took my boots off and took off my shirt. Underneath I was wearing a tight, black harness to keep my wings down and against my back. I took it off and put my shirt back on. After a deep breath and slipped out of my tent. In less than I second I had the first guy knocked out and my finger against the second one's neck. I grabbed them under the armpits and leaned them against the tent. Already, this felt like a bad idea. But, I needed to get in the air.

I was at 1000 feet and coming on the gate. I had circled the camp and this place was huge, it grew since the last time. I was flying over the gate when some alarm went off. Spotlights turned on and flooded the sky. I veered to the right when some ringing sound filled the sky. It got in my head and I started losing altitude. I soared altitude and started spiraling towards ground. My speed was too much to stop, so I opened my wings in a sad attempt to stop my fall. It failed and I hit the ground and rolled. I felt something snap and my head hit something hard.

Faster than I ever have before, I ignored the searing pains in my body and phased into a rattlesnake. Just in time to, because I saw headlights speeding towards me. I tightened my wings against my back and curled up.

Two Humvees pulled up and soldiers got out, their guns at the ready. I hissed and rattled my tail. Some jumped and backed away. I hissed again and slithered away to go under one of the Humvees. Most of the soldiers moved out of the way, except one. He took his gun and pointed it right at my little head, "What would happen if I shot this thing?"

"Shut up, you heard Colonial, leave em' alone," said another soldier.

The one soldier didn't move. I curled up and rattled my tail and hissed, showing my fangs. He backed right up and I went under the Humvees. As soon as I was under the vehicle, I was instantly forgotten.

"What do you think it was?" One asked.

"I have no idea," one of them said. They all started looking at the sky, and I phased back. I climbed and held onto the bottom. Soon my arms started to ache, and I started to shake like a leaf.

"Well, what are we going to do?"

"Let the air force take care of it. C'mon, let's go." Everyone climbed back in and fired up the engines.

The ride was so shaky that I almost fell off. I looked in front of me and saw the gate closing in. I took a deep breath and dropped. As soon as I hit the ground I rolled out of the road and into a ditch.

The got down on my stomach and looked at the check. There were 2 there now, but eight were walking back from the Humvees. I got down and army crawled over to the edge on the gate. I looked around and saw that the lights reach, so I got up and started walking towards the check. Within 10 meters of the point I heard shouts and guns being cocked.

"Get Down!" someone yelled. I got onto my knees, put my hands above my head and two soldiers flank me, each with weapons drawn. One put a gun to the back of my neck. As soon as he put that gun to my neck, I whipped around, grabbed the gun and put it to his chest. I saw what I was doing and dropped the gun. Everybody seemed to see what was happening at the same time; one gun went off, then others went off too. I hit the dirt and soldiers started yelling and jumping on top of me. Nobody could get a shot in because of the risk of hitting a fellow soldier. My wings flew from my back and knocked two off of me. Then two more took their place, for a second it looked like I was winning, until I heard the hammer of a pistol being pulled back. Everybody instantly stopped, and when I opened my eyes, I was looking down the barrel of a gun.

A very angry Lister stood in front of me. His face was as red as a strawberry. "You know I could pull this trigger and you'd be dead. You aren't supposed to leave. You will pay, and I know exactly how. Follow me," he said with a grim smile.

I glanced at the rising sun and got up and followed Lister, not knowing what was in store for me.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Lister led me to a parked Humvee. I went to get in, but he came up behind me and handcuffed me. There was a soft click as a bracelet was put on me to keep me from phasing. I used my foot to pry open the door the rest of the way and jump in.

He got in the driver's seat and the engine roared to life. We drove out of the camp, and to a huge warehouse type thing about two hours away. He parked on the outside of the building and dragged me out of the passenger seat. We walked through a double door guarded by two soldiers.

Lister led me through a labyrinth of hallways, and then to a huge white room. It looked about 20 feet, by 20 feet. On one side there was one huge glass window covered by a curtain, and a steel door.

A young man in a lab coat came hurrying up to me. "Is this the mutant?" he asked. Lister nodded in response and the scientists eyes lit up. He looked down at me, and said, "Now we're just going to perform some tests okay? No need to be scared." Complete with a fake smile.

"I'm 15. Now let's just get this done and over with, okay? Don't talk to me like a little kid," I said. His smile instantly vanished.

He walked over to a string hanging off the wall and pulled it. The curtain went up and revealed an even bigger room. The one I was in now was filled with computers and machines and people. This was just an empty room. Empty, except for a wolf. To most people it probably looked like a wolf, but to me, I saw a man. Not physically, but his eyes were a striking green. The give-away.

The handcuffs I was wearing were taken off and so was the bracelet. I was given a set of instructions, "Fight him. Try to refrain from killing him, he's our new project."

The door opened and I was shoved into the room. The man turned into a human again, and stood up. He held out his hand and I took it and held it to his mouth and kissed it. "May I wish you the best of luck," he said with a sideways smile and walked off into a corner.

I walked over to my corner and shrugged off my harness. The Colonial made me put it back on before we left camp. I tied back my long, almost black, hair and prepared myself. The animal I would phase into of was a leopard. Then I'd change as the fight progressed. It all depended on what kind of fighter he was.

A voice came out of a speaker on the wall, "The fight will begin on the count of three. Good luck to the both of you. In 3…2…1."

The man from across the room came sprinting at me with incredible speed. I had just enough time to phase while jumping out of the way. That was his first mistake. He turned to me and growled. I hissed back at him and whipped my tail back and forth. He lunged at me and I ducked to the side. I spun around and grabbed his massive back with my sharp claws. I pulled and fur and skin came off him and embedded themselves in my claws.

He whipped around and roared. I phased into a wolf and challenged his roar. He lunged again and I grabbed onto his throat. My teeth punctured his jugular and an explosion of blood burst into my mouth. I pulled away and spat the chunk of gore from my mouth. The blood tasted strangely good. It turned me into a monster. It filled me with joy; with life.

My opponent stayed on his feet. His neck was hushing blood, at the rate he'd be dead in minutes. I looked into his eyes and saw pure hatred. He wanted me to feel his pain. Suddenly, he started shaking, from what I guess was anger. The beautiful emerald green of his eyes went away into a fire red. When you're angry you're reckless. He charged me and I grabbed onto his neck again. He whimpered and closed his eyes. I twisted my neck to side, ready to snap his neck. But, suddenly, something rammed into me and knocked me over. I released his neck and jumped up, ready to attack.

There stood the one scientist holding a wad of gauze to his neck. The soldier had turned human again and I saw the damage I had done. More than half of his throat was gone, tossed across the room. I just followed the blood trail with my eyes to see where his throat landed, sitting in a puddle of blood.

I phased back to human and ran out the huge steel door. I ran right passed Colonial Lister's smiling face. I ran right out the door and took off into the mid-morning sun.

About 4 hours after I landed back in the camp, Lister came to my tent. "Come with me," He didn't wait for a response, just left. I jumped up and followed.

"What?"

"You're leaving. You don't belong with the Marines," He said.

Lister led me to a waiting chopper. I gulped, knowing that this wasn't good.


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Waiting outside of the chopper was an old General. He smiled and saluted as we walked up. Of course we had to salute back. Normally, I didn't salute, ever. But if I wanted the slightest bit of leniency on the rules, I'd have to play it safe.

Lister and the General walked a little bit off and shook hands and exchanged names and ranks. I looked for any kind of identification on the man, but found none. There was nothing on his uniform as far as patches, platoon, or wars. They walked back over and the General shook my hand. "You must be the mutant?" I cringed at the word 'mutant'. At least it was better than monster…

"Yeah," I nodded with a small smile. My wings were tightened against my back, but I couldn't get them inside of my shirt. I would have to grab them and put them in.

"Well, follow me and we'll get out of here," he said with a grin. He turned around and clambered into the helicopter. I looked back at Lister with disgust in y eyes and jumped into the helicopter. I sat down so that my feet were hanging out the open door.

"I need to ask you some questions." he said once we were in the air. "Now, would you like to tell me about your stamina, how long you can go without food or water, and training?"

"You already know the answers to all of those questions," I said without taking my eyes off of the sky.

I heard him straighten up and shift his position when I said that. "Okay, you can be like that," his tone instantly lost its niceness. "One of your consequences for running is that you're being put into a sniper team. We are going to train you, and put you as a sniper."

"Easy enough…" I sighed to myself.

I felt the helicopter start to lose altitude and start circling, so I looked down to see what I'd be dealing with. There was nothing there. But I looked down and noticed that there was, in fact a camp, just everything was covered in desert mesh. I smiled to myself and jumped out as soon as the feet of the chopper hit the ground.

The General gave the Major some paper work and then they both walked over to me. I was gazing around at the camp when the Major said, "I'm sorry but Colonial Freshman is out right now. But please follow me." And he started walking towards a row of tents. The General got back on the chopper and left when we walked away.

The Major took me into a tent with another female soldier in it. She looked up at us over her magazine when we walked in. "Captain Pinez, Private Robins, Private Robins, Captain Pinez. You two will be bunking together, so get to know each other," said the Major. He smiled at us both, nodded, and walked out.

Private Robins walked up to me and said, "Hi, I'm Carey. I'm so excited to be bunking with you!" She said, clearly excited. "Well lemme show ya 'round." She took my bag and put it on my cot. As we walked out of the tent she looked back at me and said, "Don't be so silent! Tell me about yourself."

"Uh…well I'm 14 I got me some pretty black wings and I shape shift." I said to her question.

She almost didn't gasp, but stepped back a little. Oh no, I hope I didn't scare one of my 'new friends'-friends don't last here. Whoa, you have the wings too?" and she unfurled 2 beautiful brown and white wings.

That following week was actually nice being able to spend it with a girl. It almost was like when I was 8, I loved being with the guys and being able to get a piece of the action. It was fun back then, new to my growing self. Now that I look back at it, I have no idea how I could be so stupid. I know better now.

Carrey told me she had a really important recon mission that morning. Supposedly there were tips coming in about moles for the terrorists. She asked if I would like to help her put on her equipment for the flight.

I was led outside to a nice sized pile of cameras, flak jackets, water,and many, many other things I, actually, didn't know. I helped her cut the slits in her jacket and put on everything. I just hope she wasn't KIA.

Carrey took off an hour later and I walked glumly back to our 'empty' tent kicking sand. I was about 10 feet away when I heard low voices coming from inside. "Supposed to be here…", "Needs to know this stuff…", "Wasn't found after search of…" Were all of the glimpses of the conversation. I got down into a crouch and walked slowly to the partly-open door. Inside were 2 privates in uniform and a younger looking colonial. I really hoped this wasn't a bad thing..


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

I did a sort of gasp thingy when I saw them. I don't remember doing anything terribly bad to get a colonial involved. I backed up and my boot caught on a rock and I flew back. "Mother Hubberd In The Cupboard!" I yelled as I made my descent toards the hard,rocky,and sandy ground. The men came running out and looked down at me with smirks on their faces. "Not funny…" I mumbled as I got up and kept my head down to avoid them seeing the blood rushing to my cheeks. "Hello Captain Pinez,I'm Colonial Freshman." The colonial introduced himself.

I straightened up out of habit and said, "OH!,I mean oh…sorry. But nice to meet you."

He smiled and said, "It'd be nice if you could please follow me." I never got out a response because he started walking out towards the center of camp. There was a parked humvee with other privates milling around outside and leaning against the car. One soldier looked up at me and got a weird look on his face. I immediately felt my fist clamp up. It just made me so angry when people did that! These people made me and I still never got respect. When I was little I got my cheeks grabbed and was tickled. Those people mostly ended up with some sort of facial injury. Hey what can I say, I was even violent back then.

As we neared the vehicle everyone else looked up and their eyes got as wide as saucers. I guess it would be quite different seeing a 14 year old _girl___Iraq,actually fighting. "Hello people this was our last stop. This is Captain Zoe Pinez,she'll be joining us on our primitive sniper camp." Oh God,I remember that old guy saying something about me needing to learn to snipe. "Stop staring and get in the car! It's going to be a LONG drive to the forest." The colonial waved everyone out of their trance and they started piling into the car. I purposely got in last no need to talk to anybody right?

Freshman was right,the drive was long,2 hours long. I couldn't get out and stretch so my legs started going numb as soon as we left camp. There was also this creepy guy that kept looking at my back. I don't remember turning around ,but okay.

Pretty soon my wings started acting up from being pressed up against a car for 2 hours. They would just randomly unfurl halfway and fold right back up. My favorite part was their faces:surprise and the want to peel their eyes away,but couldn't. I loved it.

We stopped and unloaded in the middle of a forest. I let everyone get out first before me. One soldier was nice enough to hold the door open. Because my wings couldn't fit through the door,I unfurled them a little behind me and got out. Unfortunatly, my body got out,but my wings were a different story. He slammed the door shut right on top off my wing. "OH MY-" The pain was horrible enough for me to cry out. I ripped my wing free from the door and lost some feathers in the process. After that I phased into my black panther and shoved him up against the car as hard as I could. My front claws were digging into his shoulder. I heard a muffled yell and Something slammed into my side. I ripped some flesh from his shoulders while falling. A huge growl escaped my throat and a bracelet was snapped on my leg. I instantly turned human and was laying facedown in the dirt with my wings spread out. The colonial was kneeling next to me and I tried to get up. "Don't" was all he said. I nodded and got up. After giving him a dirty look I bent down to take off the bracelet. Freshman handed me a key and I unlocked and chucked it into the woods. My wings flew out and I lifted off the ground. I flew as fast as I could. I flew farther and farther into the dense forest. I took a quick look behind me and ran right into a tree. I fell out of the air and fell on my back onto the soft forest floor. "Uhhhhhh" I groaned. I got up slowly and rubbed my back. My sense of direction was all messed up so I have no idea where I am.

After walking for 5 minutes I found a suitable log and sat on it. I slowly wrapped my wings around myself and wept.

I must have cryed for a long time because the air was getting chilly when I finally unwrapped my cocoon of feathers. My legs pushed my hard off the ground and I flew back to our makeshift camp.

Colonial Freshman was standing at the edge of a cliff watching the sunset when I returned. "We've been waiting for you." I didn't say anything but just looked around at the set up camp.

"I'm hungry. I need meat. I'm going to go find a ram and eat it." He never got to protest because I phased into a wolf and took off into the woods before he could protest.

Almost immediately I caught the scent of ram. The smell was fresh in my nose and it drove me to run faster. As I ran I passed a sign with the us emblem on it but didn't pay it any attention. The scent was so strong now I started drooling. The rams were visible through the trees now. I silently padded through a clearing and went quietly around the herd. A few here and there were away from the herd,but there was one In particular that was farther from the rest. I kept low to the ground and went behind the ram. I pounced and ripped out the rams throat. Every other ram hurried away in fright and left 2 dumbfounded enemies staring at me. I dropped the lifeless ram and stared at the AK-47s in their arms. _They can kill me,_I thought,_oh no… I remember the colonial saying something about only a 2 mile circle that the army would protect us in. I'm at least 4 miles out._

The 2 soldiers came out of their shock and started yelling at me to get down. No way was I able to get down,I was a _wolf_. I snarled and was rewarded with a gun being pointed to my head. My feet weren't listening to my brain and I dove to the side and jumped on the first soldier. I clamped my jaw on his shoulder and a burst of gunfire burst out of his gun. I yanked my head and a huge SNAP sounded from his shoulder. I yanked once more,harder,and his arm came free in my mouth. His gun fell from his hand and he fell over backwards. I jumped off of him and growled at the second man. I jumped at him he pulled the trigger on his gun for the first time. A bullet hit me in the shoulder and fell back with a whimper. The soldier stood over me and fired one last shot. The shot should have hit me in the head,but I rolled at the last second. He tried to fire again at me but his clip was empty. He started fumbling in his pocket for another and that was when I did my fatal strike. My giant teeth ripped out the insurgents throat and his eyes rolled back in his head and fell over. I grabbed my ram and took off as fast as I could with a wounded shoulder towards camp.

I stumbled into camp at what must've been 7 o'clock. I dropped the ram at our colonial's feet and passed out.


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Ram. The scent woke me. I sat up,only to be shoved gently back down onto my cot. "What the…you." I said. It was that private again. I looked down at his name tape: Prvt D. Patterson. Ah, another Patterson. So far, as I remember, all of the ones I have fought with have died.

I shoved away the private's attempt to help me up after a lecture about how captains are higher than privates. My legs swung over the side of the cot and I jumped up and stretched. "Oh,ouch," I whispered to myself. That shot I took to the shoulder hasn't healed yet. I put the tent flap aside and walked out into the cool night air. I heard laughter coming from my right. There was a huge fire under my ram that's been skinned and stabbed onto a giant stick. I drowsily walked over to the fire and sat down on a log. "Oh,hello Zoe." Said Freshman.

"How's the shoulder?" three guys asked in unison.

"Oh hell,yeah,it hurts." I told them.

The Colonial leaned in and asked, "Zoe,we need you to get this part right. What happened exactly?"

"You know how I went out and got a ram? See,I got that and more. There were to insurgents walking around and they saw me and I saw them. I lunged and one guy nailed me in the shoulder when I ripped off the other's arm. I jumped on the other guy,the one that shot me, and I ripped out his throat." I left out the goriest of the details, like the snap of the guy's tendon ripping in his shoulder.

Our colonial blinked and said, "I'll write it up in a report. While you were sleeping we all introduced ourselves. Zoe, we'll just start with you." At the end he added a mysterious wink.

I started looking at my dirty hands,my head down. '"Uh, My name is, uh, Captain Zoe Pinez. I came from West Virginia." Whoo. That wasn't so bad no was it?

I looked over and saw Patterson sitting next to me. When had he gotten here? "Hey, I'm Private David Patterson. From Pennsylvania." He added.

Next to him, a guy with wavy blonde hair said, "I'm Private Sam Black. Colorado."

"I'm Zach Anderson, from West Virginia too." Zach… I really missed him. Oh well.

The next guy spoke up. He had straight black hair cut into a close cropped military style. "I'm Eric Flint and I'm from Florida." He said. I liked him already.

The last private introduced himself. "Nate Motts. Washington." A man of few words.

The colonial yawned and said, "Now that that is over with,"-he dumped a bucket of water on the fire- "we can all go to bed." I stood up and started walking back to my tent. I walked in and sat down on my cot. My head hadn't even hit the pillow and I was asleep.

I woke up to David shaking me awake. "What?" I growled. There was no way I was getting out my warm cocoon of blankets.

"Well, I really think you should see this." He said, his voice full of worry. I got up and put on my boots. The coldness made me shiver.

I tip-toed over to the front of the tent and opened it. Outside was a wounded enemy soldier eating some of _my kill._ I quickly closed the flap and turned back to David. "What time is it?"

"5:30. Why?"

"Nobody else is awake. We have to deal with this _my _way. Give me your knife." David got his knife out of his duffel and handed it to me. I walked over to the back of the tent and started cutting a hole in the canvas. I winced at the sound, but I don't think that he'd be able to hear it.

I jumped out of my makeshift door and walked into the forest. I could barely see him now, so I phased into a wolf. I loved my wolf form. I folded my wings hard up against my back so they would blend in with my fur. I walked into the camp and up to the cold ram, now covered in flies. The soldier jumped up and dropped his meat. I pawed at the ram and it fell over. The soldier shakily got his gun and pointed it at me. I sniffed the air and turned to him and growled. He adjusted his aim and pointed it at my heart. I cocked my head to side and started walking towards him. He didn't move a muscle as I walked right up to him. The wound on his shoulder looked pretty bad. I sniffed his leg and he dropped his gun and turned to run. Right as he turned to run I jumped on his back. The soldier fell and tried to push me off of him. I bit his wounded shoulder and felt the metal of the bullet touch my tooth. He let out a scream and I heard David come running. "Colonial!" he screamed as he ran into his tent. A minute later Freshman came running.

"David go get everyone else up. We have a prisoner now." David ran into the other 2 tents and woke up everyone else. My jaw was starting to hurt now from holding on for so long.

Eric and Nate came out first and gawked at the scene in front of them. "Off, Zoe. You two tie him up." I did as I was told and turned human. Nate and Eric tied him up and went over to talk to the colonial. I saw them nod and pick up the soldier and march him into the woods. The colonial went into his tent and got a small metal box and followed the two boys. I looked over at David and shrugged. Then it happened. All of us winced at the single gunshot far off in the woods.


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

I won't ever know what they did with the body, I actually don't want to know.

We packed up and left that day. We drove back to camp. All of us got new orders to go to a certain for snipers. Carey was still gone when I got back and nobody heard anything from her. I don't get why this is happening to me. It doesn't make sense.

The training was like boot camp all over again. But 10 times worse. Crawling around in the mud, sitting around all day waiting for a target. It was all horrible, but it was gearing us all up for this day. My partner, David, and I were being tested.

"Our Rally Point is here. Just keep the map and you'll do fine." David reassured me. "C'mon. Let's go get our packs ready. We have 45 minutes until we have to get to the chopper." I followed David over to supply. I just got my M40 a week ago and it still felt brand new in my hands. I grabbed all of my supplies and packed and repacked them in my pack. David was giving me this weirdo look as I abused my canteen.

"Nervous." I said with a sad attempt at a smile

"it's all right we gotta get some ammo and get moving." David stood up and started walking towards the supply again. He came back with a box of ammo. I sowed it away in my bag and stood up.

"I need a seat by the window." I said and started moving towards the helicopter. 5 minutes we were on the chopper. The blades started moving with incredible power and we lifted up off the ground. "I heard we are going to some simulated village with the instructors as the enemy." I whispered to David. He looked over at me and nodded. This mission really has freaked me out. I took all I had to agree to it, I just wanted to impress David.

Underneath us the forest was beautiful. It reminded me so much of home. After maybe 10 minutes, the woods turned into a field, and that back into the woods again. If I looked off into the distance far off enough, I could see the wooden houses of the village.

The chopper was losing altitude now: descending onto a designated landing spot to get off at. I looked over at David and nodded. I grabbed my helmet, jumped out and kept my head low as I ran into the forest. I heard David running behind me, and I stopped, just out of view.

David settled next to me and pulled out the map. "North." He said to me and I nodded. I slowly got up and crossed the field silently with David hot on my trail. A sudden voice startled me.

"This is Alpha One. Where are you Delta Two? Out." Eric. One of the teams we were working with.

I pressed on the side of my headset and spoke. " Alpha One, this is Delta Two. We are located 1 click from the rally point. Over." I waved David on behind me. I looked up into the sun. Noon, it told me. We had until Wednesday to complete the mission. It was Monday now, with half of the day gone.

I could see the village now after walking continuously for 4 hours. I pulled out my rifle loaded with paint bullets. Walking the perimeter were 2 soldiers. Perfect. I waved David on to help me shoot. The targets were 50 yards away, easy. I lifted my rifle, aimed, and took down the first instructor. Before his partner could register his buddy getting shot, I pulled the trigger a second time and he fell to his knees. After 5 minutes they got up, took off their hats and walked away with their hands up. I crouched and ran into the village. David got in front of me and checked my chosen building. Once clear, we ran inside and took up a position on the top floor. I took out my tripod and trained my scope on a certain building. In that certain building was supposed to be some high ranking Iraqi general. Outside of his safehouse, were 4 guards positioned in front. Great.

"This is Alpha One, we are in position. I repeat we are position. Out." There was static after Eric's voice left the airspace.

"Delta two, we are in position. Out." I hung up and waited. And waited. And waited.

After 5 hours of waiting, our target appeared. I had David give me the coordinates and I took my shot. As I took mine another shot rang out at the same time. Our instructor buckled as 2 bright orange spots appeared on him. One on the forehead and above the heart. I giggled when a voice came on the radio, "Congrats. You guys got me. Come on down." I unloaded my gun and walked down the stairs of the building. I received a handshake and a license to snipe. You have no idea how happy that made me.

Our whole group was made into one big platoon. That just made the best day of my life.


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

The rest of Eric's group emerged out of the woods. We were congratulated and put on a humvee to our new camp. I jumped into the back and spread out, letting the hot sun warm my body. I felt as though this wasn't enough so I turned into a Komodo Dragon and spread out. "Ah, better," I sighed. My eyelids became heavy and eventually closed, letting the world out and me into a deep and peaceful sleep.

"Hey,stop that. She _is_ human too, you know." David's voice.

"Shut up." Some other person's voice broke through my thought. Someone was poking me with a stick.

I lashed out behind me. The stick-wielder dropped his weapon and screamed. I stuck out my tongue and flicked it. Slowly I inched my way up to the edge of the car. I guess it was that he heard that a Komodo's bite is fatal. Too bad that he doesn't know that my poison was removed when I was an infant.

A small crowd had gathered around the edge of the car and were watching me. I phased human again with ease and towered above them with help from the car's height.

A soldier broke away and walked towards me. I tightened my wings to my back and stared at him as he made each step. At the where I was standing he looked at me and smiled. He whipped his arm out from his pocket and tightened a bracelet on my leg. I jumped down and punched him in the jaw. As you see I was not in the mood.

I was immediately tackled by a soldier. With my strength I easily overpowered him. As I shoved him off of me more kept coming. Maybe 10 huge marines tackled me to the ground. I was kicking,punching, or biting any flesh I saw.

"Stop." The voice made everyone stop. "Stand up Miss Pinez."

I stood up and walked over to him. He put a hand out on my shoulder and his free hand punched my face. I fell to the ground and went to roll over but a knee was pressed into my back. His hand tightened on my neck and he said, "Never again."

Then the hypodermic needle punctured my skin.

I came around the next morning. I looked around and saw David in chair to my left.

I rubbed my head. "Man, what was in that needle?"

"Animal tranquilzer." He didn't exactly look too happy.

I stood up and stretched. "Need some asprin?" he shook a small white bottle in his hands. I nodded and took the medicine gratefully. "Let's go for a walk."

An hour later we were a mile away from camp. I turned my back to desert and looked at David in the eye. _He's only six years older than me_, I thought. I mentally shook my head to knock the thought out of my mind. It can't be that bad, can it?

I took a step forward and he grabbed my waist. David wasn't exactly bad looking either. I looked up at him and he brought his face down and kissed my lips. I dug in for more and he gave me what I wanted. All of the sudden he broke away and pointed to behind me. I twirled around and saw Carey standing a foot away from me. She gave David a look and revealed the m-16 she was hiding. Her strong arms brought it up and the butt collided with my forehead.


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Surprisingly, the blow didn't knock me out.

Carey let out a cackling laugh, " I thought you were smarter than this…You didn't actually think that I would follow along with idiots, did you? Wait, let me answer that for you. Lemme guess, you never were able to trust anybody in fear that they were going to betray you? Because I was girl you thought I'd be better than everyone else? Well guess what? You were WRONG!" She threw back her head and let out another laugh.

She pointed her gun at my chest and said, " hmm… where to start? I could make it short and painless, or long and painful. Which one, oh , which one…? I think I'll go with the second,"-she gave a grim little smile-, "that one seems funnier…Okay Pinez, I'll give you and your little boyfriend here a headstart before I fire. Got it? Good…"

I turned to David. "when I say 'duck', you duck."

Carey cleared her throat and I turned back to her. She lifted up her gun, "DUCK!" I screamed as I phased into panther. Carey stumbled back as a burst of gunfire crackled from her gun. As she fell I jumped on top of her and threw the gun to the side. I swung my heavy feline head and hit her in the temple. Carey mumble a few words and went silent.

I motioned for David to help me carry her as soon as I phased human again. "c'mon. She's not _that_ heavy." We picked her up and carried her back into camp. "Just lay her down in the center. Someone'll find her…" and we went back into the tents and fell asleep.

The first week wasn't really that bad. Most of the guys really liked me, some even said that I remind them of family.

During some real hard times, like when a member of the squad died, they would come sit next to me and just talk. It really softened me up. I wasn't my usual hard self.

I was writing my first letter to Zach when David came and sat next to me. "We got our first mission…" he told me glumly.

"When?" I asked.

"Tomorrow," he said.

"We are clearing out a bunch of desert. An old highway if I heard right. It's supposed to be pretty bad."

I nodded and got back to my letter. David got up and left to his own cot at the other side of the tent. Writing a letter is way harder than any of you thought, I'm sure. You just can't fit everything that's happened in one piece of paper.

Around of one in the morning I gave up the letter and pulled out a book.

Two hours later I heard crying. I looked across the way at Evan. His body was being racked with sobs.

I silently got up and tip-toed over to his cot. On the ground was a letter. The writing was all loopy, so I guessed it was from his girlfriend back home.

Dear Evan,

How is everything over there? I'm just going to guess that you're not dead if you're reading this letter. I just want to let you know that we are no longer together. Thank you for the diamond necklace you sent me for my birthday, but since we are no longer seeing each other, I have enclosed it back in this letter again. I have been seeing somebody else of the past month. I guess that I am pretty happy that you had him over so many times to watch the games on television. Jake actually listens to me, unlike you EVER did.

Good luck with staying alive, Michelle

The first thought that came to my mind was that if she knew how to sign a letter. But then that was intercepted by, whoa, was this Jake dude like his best friend or something? I shook my thoughts away and set the letter down.

I walked back over to my cot and fell asleep.

I woke up at 5 to get suited up. Soon everybody else got up and followed. I packed and repacked everything. My stomach was twisted into knots, if I did one thing wrong, I could everyone in my squad. I could get myself killed. I had absolutely no idea what I would be getting myself into, boy would I be surprised.


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

About 10 miles east of our camp we hit the highway. Burnt bodies were everywhere. Their crisp, black flesh covered in flies.

Jake, one of our gunman, volunteered to drive the car through and wait at the end of the worst stretch.

"Spread out and search the cars for explosives. God only knows what those sons of a bitches will hide in these cars. Just yell if ya find something," called out the colonial.

At the beginning was nothing. Don't look at the ground, that's all. The stench was terrible, and then the bodies. There were mothers holding on to their children as their fathers burned to death. It was a sad sight.

Of course I just had to take the route were there was the school bus. Yes, a school bus. Because of the orders I had to go in.

I walked over the side and wrenched open the doors. Bile caught in my throat at rancid smell of rotting flesh. Children not much younger than me were burnt to little crisps.

I went up the step and found myself looking at arguably the worst spot in this whole country. The kids were laying around in the aisle, you could tell that they were trying to get out by the way their hands were clawing at the windows. I screamed the loudest scream that has ever come out of my mouth.

I stumbled back and ran into the burnt driver. His body was slumped over the wheel, but his head was turned towards me. I looked back at the wild dog having a feast off a pair of young girls' bodies.

There were yells outside and 2 people from my squad came running in. They both flinched at the sight. "Close your eyes," one of the soldiers said to me. I did and they led me off of the bus.

David was pacing outside muttering to himself. A canteen was shoved in my hands and I was ordered to drink. I gulped the whole thing down and walked over to David. "You okay?" I asked. When he didn't answer I nudged him in the side. "David?" I said again. He turned to me.

"Yeah?"

"Hey, are you okay? You were mumbling to yourself over here."

"Oh, yeah, that…Well It's just that all of those kids remind me of my little sister. She's only 10 and I guess seeing all of those kids kinda struck a nerve," He told me while rubbing his neck. I nodded.

"Patterson! Stay with Pinez from now on!" Yelled Evan, our major in charge.

"Yes sir!"

David and I started clearing cars again. We saw a dead man holding an AK-47 and a vest on. David got a running start and kicked his head clean off. _Nice…_ I thought.

A couple hours later it was getting dark out. We met up with the lieutenant that drove the humvee down the highway and set up camp. Some major set a cone down to show where we stopped searching and we all piled into the car. He drove us about a mile away from the highway when we stopped and set up a makeshift camp.

We all just got our sleeping bags out of our packs and unrolled them all over the ground.

We put up all the tents and built a fire as we enjoyed our rations as a team. Evan turned to look Aaron Holland, a private first class, and said, "Take first watch." Aaron nodded. He got up, and walked over to the top of the little sand hill and lie down faces the desert beyond.

I finished my food and walked over to my bag and plopped down to sleep. My eyes slowly closed, and the next thing I knew I drifted off into a deep sleep.

"Get up!" Growled a voice in my ear.

My eyes flew open and I was up in a fraction of a second. "Wha-?" My voice choked at the end of my sentence when my ears caught the sound. An engine. An engine on the other side of the hill. I kept low and ran over to the hill and hit the dirt. _Crap…_, I thought. Far off into the distance There were two little dots off into the distance. Head lights. Major Rizzo was on the ground next to me.

"Go get our best three snipers and their spotters. Holland's pair, Your pair, and Smith's pair."

"Yes sir." And I ran back to camp and grabbed my gun and told everyone else to stay on edge.

Smith and his spotter, Holland and his spotter, and David and I all walked back to our officer and got set up. "2 by 2 and night vision scope," said Evan telling us which dots to use on our scopes. All of us adjusted our scopes and the spotters fixed their binoculars.

Major Rizzo radioed in to ask for permission to shoot a confirmed enemy vehicle. A staticy voice burst out of the radio and I barely made out the words, Yes, Out.

"Driver," I called out, claiming that I had the driver in my crosshairs.

"Driver," repeated David, telling the others that our pair had the driver.

"Passenger," Said another sniper and spotter.

"Engine," Said the last team.

I smiled as my finger closed around the trigger. "Fire…Fire…Fi-" The spotters' voices were drowned out by 3 different guns firing at once.

The driver's head exploded as he slumped in his seat, his brains splattering the windshield. The truck lost control and flipped over. 5 more soldiers jumped out of the back and started firing in our general direction, not hitting their target. "Get as many as you can," said our Major calmly. I was grinning like a madman as I started picking off the coming soldiers.


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

I woke with the warm sun beating down on my face. Everyone else was already up and packing. I looked around as I got up off the ground. Spent shells covered the ground. The night before came rushing back. I turned into an animal at the sight of death. That's what they want. They trained me well.

Everyone was cringing back from me anytime I walked past. Oh that's nice…now everybody thought I was a monster. More of one than I already am.

Silently I packed up everything and cleaned my rifle. I couldn't help but think of all of the lives I took away last night. I didn't even need David to spot for me. My night vision and raptor sight took care of it all.

"Okay! Move out!"

I set my pack on my shoulders and shuffled along at the back of the pack. Slowly I started daydreaming about being up in the air. Oh how nice it would be just to fly away from it all. I never asked to be like this.

Suddenly my wings burst from my back and I jumped. I was gone in less than 10 seconds. Not close to enough time for them to grab me. I rose high up into the air. _And I don't have intentions of coming back!_ I thought.

I did a wide arch and righted myself to the way towards camp. I don't care. Let them try and find me. I've only been gone enough time for the summer to go by. I can still go back to school and get an education. See my friends.

What was I thinking? Do I really think that I could live a normal life? I Turned on a dime and circled and landed back with the guys. As soon as I touched down David grabbed me in a hug. I quickly pulled away.

"What were you thinking? We thought you were gone!"

I just put on a smile and said, "I'd never leave. Now come on we have a town to clear out."

Slowly the day went by. Guys broke away from the group to pee, others complained of being tired. But I kept my mouth shut, for I was planning. I was going to escape again. This would be my last mission, it would attract too much attention to leave in the middle of a mission. Evan would probably call and Lister would have an F-22 come and shoot me down. Just thinking about that sent shivers rippling up my spine.

Soon a town loomed up out of the desert. I reached for my gun and rested my finger on the trigger. It felt so natural.

"Hey, Zoe!" called Evan.

My heart was pounding. Did I think out loud? Could he hear everything I was planning? "Yeah?"

"I'm going to need you to fly ahead and stay up high. We need to know how bad this town is," he explained.

"Okay!" but my voice was taken by the wind, I was already up in the air.

I stayed up high and flew right over the city. People were moving around silently, no sound whatsoever.

At every corner stood someone armed. A women dropped her bread and a guard kicked it into a storm drain. She stood up to yell at him but he put a gun to her face and pulled the trigger. Her head exploded and he was covered in blood and brains, but somehow he still managed to laugh.

It took every fiber of my being not to fly down there and kick his ass. The headless woman's body swayed and fell to its knees then he kicked it over. Blood splattered all over the sidewalk. But still, people were too scared to oppose. They had guns and ammunition, while all the people had was will.

I turned and the sun hit my feathers and made them look almost blue. Gunfire burst out and I forgot to beat my wings. I looked down and saw people pointing and yelling.

Bullets wizzed past me and I kicked it into high gear. I landed in a heap and practically ran over Private Holland. "Zoe! What happened! We heard gun fire but we didn't…" He stopped and started staring at my wing. I looked over at my right wing, and my eyes went wide at what I saw. A perfect bullet hole made its way right through my wing. I stuck my wing through it and wiggled it around.

"I…" then I fainted.


End file.
